The Official Web Site of the City of Scottsdale, Arizona

Bureau of Reclamation

As part of the Central Arizona Project, the Paradise Valley Flood Detention Basin was purchased by the Bureau of Reclamation to provide flood protection to the cities of Phoenix, Paradise Valley, and Scottsdale. The construction of the Central Arizona Project Canal required the acquisition of considerable land for the route of the canal, and the creation of flood detention basins to collect runoff water to protect the canal.

The Management Plan for the Central Arizona Project directed that those acquired lands could only be used for public recreation purposes.

The Bureau of Reclamation designated an area east of Pima road adjacent to the north side of the Granite Reef Aqueduct to be developed for public recreational use. In July 1982, the Bureau of Reclamation entered into a Cost-Sharing and Land Use Agreement with the City of Scottsdale to manage their property and develop a new public recreation facility on the Bureau of Reclamation property, which was called Horseman’s Park.

The Agreements are "Use Agreements", and the City holds no leasehold interest in the property. The Bureau of Reclamation must approve all improvements and policies pertaining to the development and operation of the facilities.

Moreover, the Bureau of Reclamation has been directly involved with the development of Reach 11 lands since the first Cost-Sharing and Land Use Agreement in 1982. They are still actively involved with the continuing development of the Reach 11 recreation area.

The following addresses other areas related to the use of Bureau of Reclamation land:

Responsibility for improvements to Federal lands:

The City of Scottsdale is responsible for the maintenance and improvements to Federal lands. The Bureau of Reclamation is not obligated to participate in funding of any future projects but may elect to do so depending on the availability of funding and the appropriateness of the project for cost-share funding as determined by the Bureau of Reclamation.

Cost-Share funding guidelines and projects the City would like to fund:

The Bureau of Reclamation responded verbally with the following related to the request to provide guidelines for cost-share funding.

The Bureau of Reclamation will evaluate any request on a project by project basis to determine its appropriateness for funding, if funding becomes available.

Funding, until recently, had been available through the CAP as appropriated by Congress. That source of funding is no longer available. The current source of Bureau of Reclamation cost-share funding is Title 28, which is made available through public law 89-72.

The Bureau of Reclamation does not budget for specific projects. When Title 28 funds become available to distribute throughout their area, the Bureau of Reclamation decides how to prioritize the distribution of those funds. Moreover, the City is responsible for funding projects with no funding obligation to the Bureau of Reclamation.